Vita Post Mortem
by shadowy recesses OTM
Summary: (grEMLin and friend) Don't be fooled by the serious title... for when you click and follow the link, you are entering a world of complete and utter (and supposedly Russian) insanity...many critics ask why these sugar hyper teens were ever aloud to write
1. Default Chapter

Hi! This is STORM! Also known as Kat and Katt... Just for you out there, this is also grEMLin eViL writing with a friend...so i know that you people don't read this part anyway...

Although we may sound serious in the begining, never fear, the level of insanity increases...as did our sugar intake... Sorry if it seems slightly cheesy at times! But, HEY, that's half the fun!

Disclaimer: WE OWN BEYBLADE! AND COKE! AND- AND- SPOONS! (men in white suits come and drag screaming lunatics away) FOLLOW THE DARK!  
Kat: "Oh well, at least i've still got my spoon collection!"

(men in white suits take spoon collection)

Kat: Thats the last time i talk about my spoons in public!"

ENJOY!

**Vita Post Mortem**

**Prologue**

"Pass it to me! Pass it to me!"

"Da! You're the only other person I can pass it to!"

The girl laughed as she easily stopped the ball, simultaneously kicking it through to goals.

"SAPPHIRE! Come here NOW!"

The girl rolled her eyes and groaned, "Please, Dad, just five more minutes?"

"NO! Get over here immediately!"

"All right, then. Coming."

The boy watched as his best friend ran towards his boss. He noticed that the guards had been sent away and that the huge iron gate had been left open. The girl and her father began to move towards the opposite side of the pitch, deliberately distancing themselves from the boy.

He stood alone by the open gates. He looked outside and saw a world that he had never seen or known. A random thought filtered through his mind. Maybe he could escape now, and leave all the murder and deception that surrounded his sport and home.

He wandered through the open streets. After a whole year, he knew almost all of them.

Suddenly he heard laughter, a sound not often heard in the backs streets of Russia. He was drawn towards the sound of happiness that he vaguely remembered. He finally came to a small patch of brown grass where four boys were fooling around with a ball. One of the boys kicked the ball high in the air and it rolled towards him. He stared at it for a moment. One of the boys ran forwards to retrieve the ball, but the newcomer kicked it away from him. He easily dribbled the ball around the others, finally kicking it through two trees that were being used as goals.

There was a shocked silence. Eventually one of the boys said, "Wow! That was amazing! What's your name?"

"Kairov."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Author's note

Most true stories don't have a beginning. So I'll try to make this one original.

"And then there was light, and he saw that it was good"

No, wait ... wrong story.

"Once upon a time …"

Sorry again. OK, here goes nothing...

"Come on, Max, you can do it!"

"No, sorry Kai, I can't. I guess I'm just not good enough."

Max tried, and failed, to kick the ball past Kai. A siren went, and two guards came in.

"Who lost?" asked one of them bluntly. There was a silence, then Max said reluctantly, "Yeah. It was me. I lost."

"Sorry, kid." The guards grabbed Max and dragged the limp boy into a little shed beside the pitch, where the boy's fate was about to be sealed. Just as Max went through the door, Kai caught sight of his face. Max's eyes had glazed over, as if he had no emotion, nothing to live for. The door shut, and there was a sound of a gun shot.

"Hmmm … Yeah …. Excited." Ever since Kai had been taken in by Matthew's family he had felt responsible for his friend and his team. He tried to tell his friends about what was going to happen, but couldn't form the words to speak. He realised that telling them would only make the journal ahead seem more traumatic. No. He would have to carry this burden by himself. In fact, Kai had not told his friends anything about his childhood or past.

Kai found his hand was unconsciously straying towards the black strip of material that he always wore around his arm. Ben noticed the movement and asked instantly, "Why do you wear that thing, Kai! 'Cos, no offence, man, but it looks really gay!"

Daniel and Luke, the other two members of the team, both nodded in agreement with Ben.

"Yeah, Kai," said Daniel with a grain, "Take it off. Or we'll make you!"

Kai smirked. "I doubt it," he said.

Daniel looked at the others and winded. "You asked for it!" was all he said.

Like and Ben grabbed Kai and dragged him to the floor while Daniel knelt on Kai's chest to keep him down. Matthew quickly grabbed the material and pulled, ripping it off Kai's arm.

Lake and Ben hurriedly jumped away from Kay, looks of horror on their faces. All Daniel could do was stare, but when Kai pushed him away, he went gladly.

"Whoa!" gasped Matthew. "What happened to your arm!"

Kai looked down at the silver strip of metal that had been burned into the top part of his arm, between his shoulder and his elbow. "I wear that thing, Ben, to cover up this," Kais aid, nodding at his arm. "In the training centre in Russia all the children are marked to show generation and status. Boys get an arm band burned on, and girls get a belt with only one link branded into their skin."

"So, what kind of life did you have before you found us?" asked Matthew cautiously.

"All right, I guess since you've seen the band, I can tell you the rest. I spent the first ten years of my life in a training centre under the stadium we are about to play on. I never saw the surface of the ground, and never saw the sun. Sometimes I practices on pitches more than 100 metres below the ground. The grounds were patrolled by guards night and day. Everyone wanted to escape, but nobody dared to face the consequences. It was hard to make friends because you were never sure if they would get you into trouble. We trained for ten hours every day, with only two meals, and ten hours sleep. We were forced to train even when we were injured to sick. On Sundays we did four hours training, but that was followed by six hours of theory and tests, and school work. In the whole course of the yea, we only got two weeks break."

"That must have been torture," said Daniel.

"Yeah, I was the only one to ever escape."

Then Luke remembered Kai's armband. "You said that the colour on your armband gives you status. What does silver mean?"

"I was captain."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

People made way of the five girls walking through the mall towards Giovanni's Pizza Place. The girls knew it so well that it had almost become a second home for them in Russia.

"Hi, Papa Giovanni!" they all called out.

"Oh, hello girls. Would you like to try my new Italian foccaccia?"

"All right, two please," said Sapphire. "How much will that be?"

"It's on the house!" said Papa Giovanni, as he had so many times before.

The girls heard him going back into the storeroom. "Start cooking the dough. NO! Not like that!" they heard him shout to his assistants.

He came back to the counter. "Ah, when will they learn?"

The girls laughed and made their way over to a vacant table. As they waited for the food to arrive, Danielle, Nikita, and Marianna began to flirt with four flustered boys on the table opposite them.

After a while the foccaccias arrived and Rhiannan was the first to reach over and grab a slice. "Hmmmm" she sighed as she bit down on the foccacia. "These are GREAT, Papa Giovanni!" She paused, savouring the spicy Italian flavour.

The other girls quickly grabbed a slice, before Rhiannan had a chance to eat them. Marianna, Nikita, and Danielle went over to the boys' table. The boys were obviously uncomfortable in the presence of the girls whose pictures they all had up on their bedroom walls.

Sapphire went over to her friends and said, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, gentlemen, we were just about to leave."

"Oh, come on Saph, just five more minutes?" said the three girls.

"No, we're leaving."

Sapphire stormed out of the restaurant, and the others followed, with Rhiannan running back to get the last few pieces of foccacia.

"Ciao, bella!" called out Papa Giovanni.

"Yeah, bye Mister G!" Rhiannan yelled back.

Back in their hotel rooms, Nikita asked Sapphire, "Why were you so angry at us for just having some fun?"

"For a start, those boys were terrified! Didn't you see the looks on their faces? We're famous soccer players, and we shouldn't take advantage of normal people!"

Rhiannan laughed. "But it's FUN!" she said.

"It may be, Rhi! But that belt around your waist, around all of our waists, is a symbol which commands respect. We have to be SERIOUS!" Sapphire paused and looked around at her friends. "Do you want me to tell father that you don't deserve to be on the team? I'm sure he could find four suitable candidates to replace you."

Marianna glared at Sapphire. "You wouldn't dare! Would you?"

Danielle said pleadingly, "Please Saph, don't tell the boss! Or your father! Please?"

Sapphire laughed. "Of course, I won't I was just threatening you so that you wouldn't act all silly in the future!"

Nikita groaned and threw a pillow at Sapphire. "Don't you ever scare us like that again! Promise us?"

"Yeah, I suppose that that was sort of mean of me. Imagine having that ring of our belts ripped off!" Sapphire shuddered. "Painful!"


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was the first match of the tournament. But before the match there was going to be an opening ceremony. The eight teams were to be officially presented to the public. Each team was given a change room to use and each team was not allowed the see the other teams until they played against them. The stadium itself was huge. It had 523 soccer pitches and enough seats to house 6.5 million spectators. It was called the Vita Post Mortem stadium, Latin for the Life after Death stadium.

Each team came out one by one. The first two teams were the Raptors and the Allstars from America. A band played the American National Anthem on the pitch and a large section of the stadium screamed and cheered with their team's flags flying high in the air. A group of American Cheerleaders came out waving their pompoms in the air and grinning at the largest audience they had ever seen. It was a sigh to see, but the performances that followed were to be even better.

The two American teams left the pitch and on came the teams from Australia, the Phoenixes (the girls' team) and Original Sins (the boys' team). The band began playing the Australian anthem, and an Australian flag joined the American one. Another section of the audience cheered.

The English teams were the next teams presented. The English anthem was played by the band and yet another section erupted in cheers. Ben turned to Kai.

"Umm, Kai? I left something very dear to me in the change room. Can I go back and get it?"

"Yeah, sure, Ben. What was it?"

"My, err, Violet Crumble!""

Ben went back into the change rooms and found his bag. He threw his clothes across the room as he searched for his chocolate. When all the clothes were gone, he picked up the bag and tipped it upside down, shaking it hard. No chocolate fell out. Ben dropped to his knees, his hands raised to the heavens.

"Nnnnnnoooooooooooo!"

Ben started to sob, uncontrollably.

"Are you looking for this?"

Ben turned around to see the pretty vice-captain of the Phoenixes, which was the female Aussie team. She was holding the Violet Crumble. Ben sighed with relief.

"Oh, thanks so much," he said.

"Sure, whatever." She unwrapped the top of the chocolate. Ben Froze. She couldn't. She wouldn't, would she?

She did. She took a huge bite out of the bar.

"No, my precious!" Ben yelled. The girl pulled a face in disgust, then threw the Violet Crumble high into the air before walking away. Ben ran wildly toward the airborne chocolate and dived for it, not looking where he was going.

He collided head first into a stern-looking man.

"Watch where you are going! I could have you suspended form your team. You would never …"

The man stopped in mid-sentence when the chocolate bar hit him on the head. He growled before stamping down hard on the chocolate. Before the man could say anything, Ben took the bar from under his foot. He ran back into the arena holding the bar up high. He held it like a trophy won by a triumphant hero.

By that time, the Demolition Boys and the Fearsome Halflings were on the pitch. Everybody turned to see Ben waving his chocolate around. The Russian supporters were almost drowned out by the cheering of the English supporters for Ben's chocolate bar. After his moment of triumph, Ben quickly ran to join his team-mates.

Soon the Opening Ceremony was over and the teams went their separate ways. The Wolves stood at the door rating the girls that walked past. The Phoenixes were the first to leave. They giggled and waved goodbye to Ben as they walked out the door.

"It looks like someone's popular with the ladies," said Daniel, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Yes. It does look like someone's gaining status in the popularity sector," stated Luke.

Everyone turned to look at Luke and their jaws dropped.

"Huh?" they all said simultaneously.

"Sex appeal."

They saw the last of the two Russian teams leaving through the other door.

"Pity they're not coming this way," said Matt. "They probably went that way to avoid the paparazzi," said Kai sarcastically.

The group turned to see Peter, the coach of the Russian teams, speaking to a large crowd of reporters.

"I apologise for our Russian teams being unable to make a statement to the public. They will have plenty of time after winning the tournament."

The group turned to face Kai.

"You were saying?" laughed Matt.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The game was even at one goal all. This was only because Rhiannan had gone into a coughing fit and the others were too concerned about her to pay attention to the opposition. Not that it mattered. It was only five minutes into the match. Another 55 minutes left to spend whipping the collective arses of the Original Sins. The fearsome Halflings were going for a world record, even if it meant beating (literally) their opponents. And besides, they planned to just muck around until the quarter time siren went in 10 minutes time. Rhiannon needed to see an on-site medic.

(A/N: Obviously not an on-field medic, or they would get knocked out and thus needing more on-field medics, who themselves would get knocked out. They in turn would need more on-field medics, and as you can see, the list goes on.)

Five minutes to go, and the score was no longer even. It was 5 to 1 in favour of the Fearsome Halflings. One of the Original Sins defence players had been carried off the field when an unseen foul had rendered him unconscious. The rest of his team-mates were playing in fear that they too may end up in a critical condition.

Danielle dodged around the remaining defender, who threw himself out of her way. She scored another goal, just as the siren went, leaving the score 6 goals to 1. The 1 obviously belonged to the Original Sins, who now didn't have any defenders able to participate. One of them was in a coma; the other had a broken arm and possible cracked ribs.

The Fearsome Halflings made their way back to the change room. Peter, the team's coach, called them into the conference room. He started shamelessly criticising their every move. The girls who lad already heard this before had learnt to change his words into a distant "Blah, blah, blah," in the back of their minds. Nikita turned to Sapphire, who was the only one pretending to listen and who had her eyes glazed over as she stared past her father.

"Hey, Sapph," Nikita whispered. "We should be out celebrating instead of listening to you old man blab."

"Yes. But Father wouldn't allow us to just gett up and leave. We can go shopping tomorrow."

"Really!"

"I promise," whispered Sapphire, who was still staring blankly at her father.

A/N: For those of you who are sane and curious enough to wonder which other teams won their matches, the answer is as follows:

The Phoenixes won against the All Stars

The Wolves won against the Raptors.

The Demolition Boys won against the Cyclopses.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Hey look! The new Soccer Starz game is out! And guess who it features! Kai! US! Yes, us! Man, GameZone is so cool!"

"That's nice Ben." Kai left his sugar-hyped friends in GameZone and wandered over to Giovanni's Pizza Place, a restaurant he often visited when he was in Russia.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mall …

The Fearsome Halflings were using their early victory as an excuse to go on a shopping spree at Supre.

Sapphire had already chosen he clothes and was waiting for her friends outside the shop. She found herself gazing at the large neon sign above Giovanni's Pizza Place and walked slowly over. She started around the Pizza Place, commencing a game she often played to pass the time.

Old scruffy man. Thin, homeless and hungry.

Loving couple gazing at each other. Have gold rings. Newlyweds in love.

Teenage boy, brown spiked hair, tall, dark brown eyes. Looks bored.

"Holy cow! It's Kairov!"

"Everybody turned around and stared. Sapphire marched over to an old friend who had barely changed in seven years. When he showed a vague sign of recognition, she wanted to hug him, but then realised that this was the boy that had betrayed her trust and deceived her.

"You son-of-a-BITCH!"

Kai blinked.

"I can't believe you! After seven years you decide to set foot back in Russia!"

"Excuse me, Miss, but who the hell do you think you are talking to?"

People gathered around, eager to watch a fight between some "nobody" and their soccer hero, Sapphire Korovan.

"What… did you change your name, Kai?"

"Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"After all these years, how could you have forgotten me?"

By that time, Sapphire's friends had joined the crowd.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

The old scruffy man attempted to join in the fight. "This, my boy, is Sapphire Korovan, captain of our leading girls' soccer team!"

Sapphire ignored the old man. "Now do you remember me?

Suddenly it hit Kai. "YOU!"

"Ahh … This is Kai!" Danielle paused. "Now I definitely feel sorry for you. Imagine knowing this freak!" Kai's friends had finally left GameZone sand were the only ones standing behind him.

"Hey!" said Ben angrily. "Don't talk about our team captain like that!"

"Oh!" sneered Sapphire. "You're a captain. Of what, an all boys netball team? Or maybe the Brownies."

Kai stared at Sapphire in amazement. "Jeez, you've changed. I don't seem to remember you as a cold-hearted slut. Goes to show what a bad judge of people I am."

"You can judge me all you want, Kai," stated Sapphire. "But what have you done with your life?"

"Oh, we ONLY won the Asian, Australasian, and American tournaments for … ah … SOCCER!"

Kai rolled up his sleeve, exposing his armband.

"Remember this, Sapphie?"

Sapphire stared at Kai for a second then burst into tears. Pushing her way out through the crowds, Sapphire blindly ran from the mall. Her team mates and supporters followed her, and Danielle only pausing to walk up to Kai and say, "look what you've done, you bastard." She slapped him hard across the face, then turned and raced after the others.

"Wow, we almost had a riot on our hands!" enthused Ben.

"Ah, yes, those were the days," muttered Papa Giovanni as he walked back behind the counter. "Happy memories!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 6**

Splash! Rhiannan laughed as she surfaced from the water.

"Come on, Nikita! It's your turn to o on the diving board!"

"Do I have to?"

Before Rhiannan had a chance to reply, two boys ran past, shouting and laughing as they dive-bombed into the water.

"Who are they?" asked Danielle.

"Oh … it's that boys' soccer team we met yesterday," said Sapphire with disdain.

"That's right," laughed Marianna, "The Brownies."

"For your information, it's Ben and Daniel!" shouted Ben.

Daniel covered his yes and groaned and Rhiannan laughed at his reaction. Daniel looked up, surprised, and Rhiannan smiled at him.

"I am Rhiannan and this is Danielle, Nikita, Marianna. You already know Sapphire."

Daniel swam over to Rhiannan, ignoring Ben's whisper, "But they're the enemy!"

"Shut up, Ben," yelled Matthew as he too dive-bombed into the pool.

Nikita sniffed in disgust. "Actually, this is how it's done," she called back to Matthew. She dived gracefully off the board without making so much as a ripple in the water.

"See Nikita, that wasn't so bad!" shouted Danielle, as she as Marianna slipped into the pool.

"Where's Kai and that other boy?" asked Marianna.

"By 'that other boy' I think you mean Luke. He's the read-headed boy over there. With the laptop. Oh, and Kai just said that he had something to do. He wouldn't talk about it," said Matthew.

There was silence for a while as Sapphire stepped up to the diving board. Sapphire thought: I really hope I don't get upstaged by Nikita's dive.

Matthew thought: Sapphire looks so beautiful standing there. She is such an amazing girl.

Nikita thought: Saph really shouldn't be worried. She is such a good diver.

Danielle thought: Go Saph! Go Saph! Go Saph!

Marianna thought: It is so good that we haven't become complete enemies.

Rhiannan thought: Daniel is so sool and funny. So unlike Kai.

Daniel thought: He he he! I'll just swim up behind Marianna and give her a 'shark bite' on the ankles.

Ben thought: What should I have for lunch? A Snickers or a Picnic?

Luke thought: Now, if –x2 yz(5√2000)50x 5? ….

Rhiannan screamed, and just at the wrong moment Sapphire hesitated, toppling off the board. She landed with her back against the water with a loud thwack. She swallowed water as she sank beneath the surface.

Matthew was immediately aware of the situation. He quickly swam to Sapphire and carried her towards the edge of the pool. Luke left his laptop and tan to help carry Sapphire back to his deck chair. The others quickly climbed out of the water, concerned about Sapphire.

Sapphire slowly opened her eyes and after her vision returned, she saw eight faces looking down at her. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but then turned over and coughed out large amounts of chlorinated water onto Luke's shiny new black leather shoes. He ran screaming back inside the hotel, "My hoes! My shoes!"

He was quickly followed by Ben, who was shouting, "Which do you think is better? Snickers or Picnic?"

As Sapphire groaned, Danielle, Nikita, and Marianna helped her back to their rooms.

Rhiannan waited until the others were out of sight and said to Matt, "She's too good for you, you know. She doesn't need a hero."

"Well if it weren't for your carrying on, she wouldn't have needed me in the first place."

Daniel looked from one to the other, unsure of what do to. Rhiannan glared at Matt, and turned on her heel. As she walked back into the hotel, Matthew said to Daniel, "I don't know how you can stand her. She is such a stuck-up bitch."

"How dare you talk about her that way. You don't even know her!" said Daniel angrily.

"Fine! Be that way!" said Matthew as he walked away.

Daniel was left standing by the pool, where such a good day had turned so bad.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 7**

All the matches had been played with the exception of the semi-finals and finals. All the remaining teams were asked to attend a special meeting, concerning a surprise. The room was filled with the noise of excitement as the teams gradually entered the room. Everyone was trying to figure out what all the suspense was about. Finally, and old but stern-looking man entered and stood on a raised platform at the front of the room. He raised his hand and silence fell. Matthew noticed that Kai had stiffened when the man had come in.

"I am Alexander Akovic. Some of you may now me. I'm in charge of our soccer program here is Russia and organiser for the World Championships. You were brought her to discuss an extremely grave and important matter concerning the finals and semi-finals. In your honour, children, there shall be a ball, held on the 15th September, two days from now."

At the mention of the words 'in your honour' the teenagers had become ecstatic, but when Mr Akovic had said 'ball', the exclamations had turned to groans.

"That is all. You may return to your rooms, or do whatever it is you children do at this hour. Kairov, stay back."

The teams all filed out the door, chatting about whether or not they could be bothered going to this 'ball'.

The Wolves waited just outside the door for Kai, and the Fearsome Halflings stayed to keep them company. After five minutes of awkward silence, Luke asked Nikita, "What is our opinion on the upcoming social event?"

"Ummm … sounds all right … You guys going?" said Nikita.

"I would, but there's one small problem. I've got two left feet!" wailed Ben.

"That's scientifically impossible, Ben!" said Luke.

Daniel raised his eyebrows at Rhiannan, who giggled.

"Don't worry, Ben," said Nikita. "I'm going, and if you want, I'll teach you ballroom dancing."

"We'll all need lessons, if we're going that is," said Marianna.

"Yeah, but Saph won't. She can already ballroom dance," said Danielle.

"That's good," replied Nikita. "We'll need music and Saph can play piano for us."

"Stop talking about me as if I'm not here!" snapped Sapphire.

Before Matthew had a chance to agree with her, Kai burst through the door. Behind him, Alexander Akovic could be heard screaming, "You'll never win! You'll never be great! Not if you stay with that team! Mua ha ha ha." He ran coughing and spluttering into an adjoining room.

"Kai smirked. "Hope the old geezer dies."

"Are you all right?" asked Marianna.

"UI just wish he would stop acting as if he owns me. He's always trying to take over my life," complained Kai.

"What's he to you?" asked Danielle.

"Can't you see the family resemblance? It's his grandfather," said Sapphire.

Everybody cringed as Daniel said, "Ooooh, that's harsh."

"At least he's not my father," said Kai. "You and your dad are identical."

All Sapphire could do was gape as Kai and his team turned around and left.

Nikita called out after them, "See you tomorrow, 11 o'clock, at room 53."

Ben, Daniel, Luke and Matt ward goodbye, and the teams went their separate ways.

"Left, right, right, left, right, OUCH!" said Nikita. "Stop stepping on my feel, Ben!"

"Sorry, Nikita! I can't help it!" said Ben.

"It's okay. We can swap partners now anyway. Ben, go with Marianna. Luke, you can sit out, you're doing fine. Matthew, you and Dani are doing well, keep practicing. Daniel and Rhiannan, you can stay together too."

"No, I'm fine, Nikita, but you dance with Dan, he's not quite getting the steps," said Rhiannan. Daniel poked his tongue out at her, as he went over to dance with Nikita. Rhiannan laughed as she walked over to sit next to Sapphire.

"Okay, Saph, you start playing the waltz again," said Nikita.

"All right, if I have to," sighed Sapphire. Her fingers, as if by themselves, began to play.

"Hey, Saph," whispered Rhiannan. "Promise not to stuff up if I tell you this?"

"How could I make a mistake in a piece as simple as this?" scoffed Sapphire.

"Well, actually Kai's behind you!"

Clunk.

Everyone turned around and looked at Sapphire, who was lowly turning bright red.

"How long have you been there!" accused Sapphire, directing her question at Kai, who stook leaning in the doorway.

"Quit a while, actually," Kai said.

There was an awkward silence, then Ben said cheerfully, "I don't see why we have to do this; it is going to be _so_ boring!"

"Well, we can always make it fun. How about we got o a night club afterwards?" suggested Nikita.

The others cheered, with the exception of Sapphire and Kai. Sapphire looked sceptical. "Have you ever even been to a night club, Nikita?" she asked.

"Yeah, duh, of course I have!" said Nikita.

"And what in the name of chocolate do you to do at a night club!"

"For once, Ben, I think you just asked a reasonable question. Except for the chocolate part."

"Well, you dance, you talk, and you drink," said Nikita.

"How's that different from a ball?" asked Sapphire.

"At a ball you do this." Nikita paused to demonstrate a perfect polka step. "And at a night club you dance like this. Sapphire, please turn on the stereo."

Sapphire leant over and flicked the switch on the CD player, and funky RNB music blasted out into the room. Nikita broke into a hip hop dance phrase and watched as her friends stared, moths open wide.

"Nikita!" gasped Marianna. "I always knew you could dance, but not like that!"

"That was _so_ awesome!" shrieked Ben, eyes wide. "Please will you teach me! Pretty please! With sugar on top!"

"All right, Ben," laughed Nikita. "Though I don't think you'll be needing any more sugar!"


End file.
